Issues on Chinese passive
关于汉语被动句的几个问题
Dingxu Shi 石定栩

Abstract 摘要
This paper provides several descriptive generalizations about Chinese passive sentences: 1) unmarked sentences with a preverbal patient NP should not be considered passive; 2) there are two beis in passive sentences, of which one is a preposition and the other is a passive marker; 3) there is a semantic relationship between the moved object and the retained object, which can be characterized as that the combination of the verb and the retained object selects the moved object; 4) the correspondence between passive and active sentences does not always exist and such a relation cannot be established if there is a subject-oriented adverbial or modal in the sentence; 5) the morphological marking in Chinese passives is accurate, even in pivotal constructions. Which construction in Chinese should be considered passive? What are the functions and status of the morpheme bei? What is the relationship between the passive subject and the so-called retained object? Why certain passive sentences with modals do not have the same truth value as their active counterparts do? These questions often emerge in recent literature on Chinese passive constructions and the answers provided usually lead to more debate. This paper is an attempt to establish a comprehensive and accurate description of the phenomena related to these issues. Noparticular theoretic presumption is assumed and no stipulation will be made. The generalizations reached here may be adapted to suit any theoretic framework and can thus become the basis for satisfactory accounts for these phenomena.

本文对汉语被动句的特性进行总结归纳，得出以下结论：1）句中无“被”字标记的所谓受事主语句不应视为被动句；2）被动句中的“被”字实际上是两个不同的词，一个是介词，另一个是表示动的语助词； 3）被动句的主语同 “保留宾语”之间存在着严格的语义关系，如果将动词与保留宾语视为合成动词，这种关系就可以表述为合成动词对主语的选择；4）并非所有的被动句都有相应的主动句，如果句中存在表达主语意愿的状语或能愿动词，被动句就不会有相应的主动句；5）“被”字对动词的标记作用准确无误，即使是在兼语式的被动句中也同样如此。

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